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Agreements

Agreements are the outcome of collective bargaining and social dialogue processes. Social partners are encouraged to negotiate and conclude collective agreements  that can then be implemented at European, national, regional, sectoral or company level.  Increasingly Union labour laws are shaped by agreements that the parties voluntarily enter into and by soft law mechanisms. 

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In this pilot project, Eurofound successfully established the feasibility of, and piloted, an EU-wide database of minimum pay rates contained in collective agreements related to low-paid workers. A conceptual and...

26 Eanáir 2024
Publication
Research report

Eurofound expert(s)

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Christine Aumayr-Pintar is a senior research manager in the Working Life unit at Eurofound. Her current research topics include minimum wages, collectively agreed wages and gender...

Senior research manager,
Working life research unit
Publications results (40)

In this pilot project, Eurofound successfully established the feasibility of, and piloted, an EU-wide database of minimum pay rates contained in collective agreements related to low-paid workers. A conceptual and measurement framework was devised, a total of 692 collective agreements – related to 24

26 January 2024

This report explores EU Member States’ legislation around the right to disconnect and assesses the impact of company policies in this area on employees’ hours of connection, working time, work–life balance, health and well-being, and overall workplace satisfaction.

30 November 2023

This report examines the average weekly working hours across Europe in 2021 and 2022. It covers important developments resulting from legislative reforms in collective bargaining at national or sectoral level, drawing on debates about the reduction of working time and the four-day working week.

24 October 2023

Automation and digitisation technologies, including artificial intelligence, are rapidly evolving and becoming increasingly powerful and pervasive. The full range of their effects in the workplace is yet to be seen. It is, however, important not only to explore the ethical implications of digital te

12 September 2023

After a long period of price stability, inflation has made a remarkable comeback in the EU. While nominal wages picked up in 2021 and 2022, real wage growth has remained below inflation, affecting mainly low-income groups.

06 September 2023

This report investigates the involvement of social partners in the just transition to a climate-neutral economy, with a particular focus on the territorial just transition plans. These plans aim to support the regions most negatively affected by the just transition by assisting workers to retrain

19 July 2023

This report is carried out in the context of the three-year pilot project (2021–2023), ‘Role of the minimum wage in establishing the Universal Labour Guarantee’, mandated to Eurofound by the European Commission. Its focus is module 3 of the project, investigating minimum wages and other forms of pay

30 November 2022

This working paper investigates the practical implementation of the European Works Council (EWC) Directive at company level. It explores the challenges faced by existing EWCs and provides examples of solutions identified and remaining issues from the point of view of both workers and management. In

25 October 2022

This report sets out to map and analyse legislation and collective bargaining on telework in the 27 Member States and Norway. It highlights the main cross-country differences and similarities regarding telework legislation and recent changes to these regulations. It also examines the current situati

01 September 2022

This report analyses recent developments and emerging practices in collective bargaining processes and outcomes, mainly in the private sector. The report covers collective bargaining systems in 10 EU Member States and is based on cases identified through interviews with key stakeholders and

31 August 2022

Online resources results (321)

Social partners agree on changes to Labour Code and Social Security Code

Government ministers found that, when making redundancies, they had to pay out large, additional and unforeseen amounts to people who had accumulated a great deal of annual leave over many years. Businesses, on a slightly smaller scale, were also facing this problem. To solve it, ministers amended

Interim report on 2010 bargaining round

In July 2010, the Collective Agreement Archive (Tarifarchiv [1]) of the Institute for Economic and Social Research (Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaftliches Institut, WSI [2]) within the Hans Böckler Foundation (Hans-Böckler-Stiftung, HBS [3]) published its interim report (in German) [4] on the

Croke Park deal delivers cost containment and promises major change in public sector

In June, the Public Services Committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU [1]) backed what has become known as the ‘Croke Park’ agreement, by 1,894 delegate votes to 986. The agreement, negotiated at Croke Park, Ireland’s premier sports stadium, means a four-year pay freeze, and commitments

New collective agreement concluded in chemicals industry

On 21 April 2010, the Mining, Chemicals and Energy Industrial Union (IG BCE [1]) and the German Federation of Chemicals Employers’ Associations (BAVC [2]) announced in a press article (in German) [3] the conclusion of a new collective agreement in the sector. It runs for 11 months and will cover 550

Tension in hotel trade over renewal of pay agreement

The labour agreement for the hotel trade covers over 16,000 skilled and unskilled workers. There have been increasing delays in the agreement’s renewal over the past 10 years, due to the two sides being able to reach agreement only after mediation. The previous agreement, which officially expired on

New agreements pave the way to tackle social dumping

Private sector wage agreements in the early spring of 2010 were signed in Denmark in the wake of the global economic crisis and were predicted to be low-cost settlements in favour of the employers in order to sustain the competitiveness of companies. It was anticipated that wage increases would be

Volkswagen Slovakia increases wages by 3%

The automotive industry in Slovakia is producing new models after overcoming the recent downturn. Volkswagen Slovakia, based in Bratislava, has brought out an improved version of the 4WD Touareg and is preparing to produce a new small family car in 2011. Employees’ wages were kept down by the

New agreements concluded in key private sector accord areas

In the spring of 2010, the biennial collective agreements in Norwegian working life were due to be renegotiated. This year, the private sector wage settlement was to be carried out as an industry-level settlement – in other words, all of the private sector collective agreements are to be negotiated

EU social partners reach agreement on inclusive labour market

On 25 March 2010, the EU-level cross-sector social partners presented a joint autonomous framework agreement (863Kb PDF) [1] on inclusive labour markets. The parties involved included the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC [2]), the European Centre of Enterprises with Public Participation and

Largest employer organisation in industry leaves industrial agreement

In 1996, the Swedish government advised the social partners at sectoral level to propose, by the end of March 1997, a new framework for wage setting and negotiations within industry. The purpose of this new framework was to ensure a better functioning of the wage negotiations that would be more in


Blogs results (2)
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Minimum wages have risen significantly in 2022, as the EU Member States leave behind the cautious mood of the pandemic. However, rising inflation is eating up these wage increases, and only flexibility in the regular minimum wage setting processes may avoid generalised losses in purchasing power

15 Meitheamh 2022
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Whatever the benefits of telework – and there are many, including more flexible working time, increased productivity and less commuting – there are drawbacks, as many of the one-third of Europeans who were exclusively working from home during the pandemic will attest. Primary among these is the ‘alw

3 Nollaig 2020

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